La Perouse Whale

Summary: A very weathered engraving of a whale and its calf, on the headland at La Perouse.

  • Site type: Rock engraving
  • Number of motifs: 3
  • Motif/s: Fish, Whale
  • Quality: 1/5
  • Condition of site: Partially Destroyed, Weathered
  • View site sketch
  • Year first recorded: 1898
  • Originally Recorded by: W.D. Campbell, R.H. Mathews
  • Campbell Reference: BOTANY Plate 3 Fig 2 in Aboriginal Carving of Port Jackon and Broken Bay (Download)
  • Mathews Reference: The Rock Paintings and Carvings of the Australian Aborigines in Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. 25, p.147-150.
  • R. H. Mathews, “Rock Carvings and Paintings by the Australian Aborigines” in “Culture in Translation: The anthropological legacy of R.H. Mathews by Martin Thomas (2007)

Is this the remains of a whale carving and its calf, that was once clearly visible on the rocks at the southern end of Frenchmans Bay? Described as a “fine carving of a whale” the engraving is 38 feet long, and in the middle of the whale is the calf. The engraving was first documented by W.D. Campbell in 1981, when the local Aboriginal people informed him that this was a “bora” whale

img 5333 lr La Perouse Whale

A large fish, and what may be a tomahawk were recorded nearby, but these engravings are very faded.

engraving la perouse La Perouse Whale

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